Wisk Air Helicopters has added a new Bell 407GXI helicopter to its growing fleet, bringing the total to 12 aircraft. The acquisition will likely be followed next year by a Bell 429 twin-engine helicopter, making it the 13th aircraft in the company’s fleet, both produced by Bell Textron.
Mark Wiskemann, founder and president of Wisk Air Helicopters, called the acquisition another milestone in the company’s long-term investment in Northern aviation innovation, infrastructure, and service capacity across Northwestern Ontario, the Far North, and Manitoba.
“It’s about building Northern capacity with modern, state-of-the-art aircraft, supported by an experienced and highly skilled team right here in Northwestern Ontario,” Wiskemann said on Wednesday at the Wisk Air hangar. “Each time we add a helicopter, we add three to four people, which includes pilots and mechanics. They deploy with the aircraft when it goes to remote places in Northwestern Ontario, and then there’s a tributary effect where we would need administration help, ground support and other equipment.”
He said that there is much work happening around Northwestern Ontario, and there is a desperate need for helicopter service.
“With the development of the Ring of Fire access and the resources that are shared coming from those territories, the only way to get there is either a float plane or a helicopter. So we’re being the primary supplier, and we’re really proud to put the new 407 into service for northern community uses,” he said.
He said they have their sights set on the Bell 429, which is a twin-engine aircraft with unique capacities that their power line construction customers will need.
Jackie MacDonald, director of business development and revenue management at the Thunder Bay International Airport Authority, called Wisk Air’s expansion a powerful example of the importance of fleet modernization and continued private-sector investment at the airport.
“It strengthens our aviation community here in Northwestern Ontario,” MacDonald said. “Investments in modern aircraft, equipment, and aviation infrastructure help ensure we remain positioned to support economic growth and connectivity across the North.”
Meanwhile, while Wisk Air is celebrating 40 years of business in the Northwest, Bell Textron is also celebrating 40 years of manufacturing in Canada.
Lorenz Jessen, Bell Textron’s sales manager for Canada, had the Bell 429 twin-engine helicopter on display at the Wisk Air hangar on Wednesday morning and said both the Bell 407GXI and the Bell 429 helicopters were manufactured in Maribel, Quebec.
“We do all our commercial manufacturing here in Canada,” Jessen said. “That’s very important to us, because we employ 1,650 employees at our manufacturing facility.
He said they had much government assistance starting in the 1980s to make it all happen, and one of the main reasons that Bell put commercial manufacturing in Canada is because they wanted to keep it separate from military manufacturing, which remains in Texas.
He added that they were active at the recent CANSEC, Canada’s largest global defence and security expo and conference, which took place last month in Ottawa. As Canada builds a homegrown defence procurement, Jessen says they were well represented from both the U.S. and Canada, establishing future discussions on ensuring the Bell product with the government of Canada.
